The head of State made the remarks at a reception for Thai Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn in Hanoi on July 28, who is in Vietnam to attend “Thai Cultural Days”, marking the 40th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties (August 6)...

President Tran Dai Quang called for joint efforts to set forth specific measures to put into place the action programme on Vietnam-Thailand trade and investment for 2015-2016, gearing towards a two-way trade value of US$20 billion in 2020.

The two countries should continue actualising their defence co-operation agreement and swiftly implement deputy ministerial-level dialogues between their defence ministries, as well as between the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and the Thai Royal Police, he said.

The president proposed increasing the use of a hotline between the two countries’ naval forces to promptly settle maritime issues, including incidents relating to their fishermen, which, he said, should be resolved in the humanitarian spirit, the strategic partnership and the friendship between their people.

The Vietnamese State will create the best possible conditions for Thai investors and businesses to operate in the country and encourage Thai investments in tourism, garment-textile, food, farm produce and chemicals, he said.

He suggested the two countries continue their close co-ordination with Laos and Cambodia to accelerate the construction of the Thailand-Cambodia-Vietnam coastal transport route and launch bus services linking Vietnam with its two neighbours of Thailand and Laos..

For his part, Tanasak Patimapragorn affirmed that Thailand stands ready to join hands with Vietnam across all fields, thus contributing to strengthening ASEAN’s intra-bloc affiliation.

He described cultural, tourism and sport collaboration as a spotlight in the bilateral ties and stressed Thailand’s views to address maritime issues in the spirit of the strategic partnership and through diplomatic channels between the two countries’ competent agencies and the respective embassies./.